Have you ever done much hand machining or do you just do CNC. It's getting colder and my projects are moving inside, one is a Atlas six inch hobby lathe I have been trying to work out the kinks and find just what I am missing as far as parts go.
As luck would have it, I have experience with Atlas lathes. They were also sold at Sears as the Craftsman lathe. The one I used didn't have a gearbox to change feedrates, you had to R&R the gears to change feedrates.
I only have a three jaw chuck and it's giving me some problems from what I have read they need a lot of screwing around with to get right, does that sound about right.
if it's not running on center, try backing the jaws all the way out, cleaning them, then reinstalling them. If the chuck has instructions for adjusting the jaws, then follow that. If there's no instructions then take it to a local machine shop to see of they can get it to run true (the chuck is just threaded on, you can get it off by engaging the rear drive gears to lock up the spindle the use a spanner wrench to get it off) If that fails, a new chuck should be around $100.
I'm not looking to make anything critical just some replacement parts for some old tools mostly custom fasteners.
The power feed for the carrige is a weak point of those lathes. Make sure the half-nut drive is in good condition.
